THE TICKER

Travel Web site could raise $612 million in second offering

Orbitz Worldwide Inc., the online travel Web site owned by Blackstone Group LP, could raise $612 million by selling shares in its second initial public offering in four years.

The company plans to sell 34 million shares at between $16 and $18 a share, and underwriters have the option to buy an additional 5.1 million shares, Chicago-based Orbitz said Friday in a regulatory filing. The company applied for a New York Stock Exchange listing under the symbol OWW. Orbitz initially filed for an IPO in May, but didn't disclose the number of shares to be sold, the price range or which exchange it sought to be listed on.

Orbitz is part of Travelport Ltd., which was bought by buyout firm Blackstone in August for $4.3 billion from the former Cendant Corp.

Orbitz was originally taken public by its five U.S. airline owners in December 2003, raising $316.7 million. The carriers were United Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines. At the time, the company was valued at about $1 billion.

In November 2004, Cendant, which is now Avis Budget Group Inc., bought the firm for $1.25 billion to sell more online travel packages.